"We can't allow things that are inaccurate to stand." — The Word of Our Dan, February 19, 2008.

Monday, June 20, 2011

That week had 22 Minutes

By way of an access to information request, a bit of insight into some of the former Premier's activities during the week of September 20, 2010 — the week that a good swathe of eastern Newfoundland, and much of the appartus of the provincial, federal, and local governments, were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Igor.

Some editorial notes: where material was redacted by the Access to Information official redactor, the redaction is indicated. The use of the single [REDACTED] bears no necessary relation to the length of the redaction, which may be a single word or a larger block of text.

The headers of quoted emails have, where necessary, been reconstructed assuming the same To- and From-participants (with roles reversed) and the same subject lines as prior or subsequent messages in the chain. Where the original time-stamp was not preserved, the email has been placed chronologically relative to the email it is quoted in, or the email it quotes.

Obvious typos in the originals are indicated. A few key passages have been underlined here for emphasis; underlining is not in the original.

This corner's early inquiries at the school board, asking to confirm, as a matter of fact, the date of the taping, met with a most curious response. "We have been advised by thePremier's office," the respondent helpfully offered in early October, "that any questions regarding his schedule or involvement in the taping of the recent This Hour has 22 Minutes program can be directed to his office."

A few weeks later, Danny Williams accused Marystown Mayor Sam Synard of being a "showboat".

Hi there,Season 18 of 22 is in production. We premiere next Tuesday. Soooooo... we want to do a show looking at Lower Churchill and Hydro and all that and were wondering if my favorite Premiere [sic] is interested. The angle we are thinking is, I talk to him about the Churchill for a sec, and then I interrupt him to point out I think that the reason Quebec isn't playing ball is, they can't understand him. He's speaking in English when he should be making points in French. So, I try and get him to repeat some translations and french sayings to camera. Then to cap it off, I get him to come with me and site in with the Grade 2 French immersion kids at Bishop Field with me. Just one quick scene. Thoughts? It'd be funny but also a good way to explain the issue very plainly and simply to a Canadian Audience who might not be that knowledgeable about it.Hope all is well.[REDACTED]

Itd be 15 minutes to shoot somewhere with him about lower churchill (maybe at confederation building) and the probablt [sic] 20 minutes to be honest at Bishop field [sic] with the grade 2's. [REDACTED]

HeyThey way the piece will run, it'll be start [sic] with a sit down shot of Danny and I talking about Quebec.Ill [sic] need him to:A: quickly in sound clip fashion explain the church, power etc B; what Quebec is doing to mess it upC: ill [sic] quote him some of his more … Um... Angry Quebec quotes.

Then I explain to him that he shouldn't be aggravating Quebec like that... Because the can't understand him. And that he needs to learn how to take shots at them en francais. I get him to say from french, its terrible so I tell him he needs a tutor at his level. Cut to: he's in the grade 2 french class, answering the teacher with the other kids. Then danny raises hand, made that the kids on the other side of the room have nicer crayons, slap in the face to the people on his side, etc.. I take him out.Sounds like more than it is, but it won't be that long.

Bad news. We have to bail on tomorrow. We've cleared his schedule as we will be going around the province visiting sites. Destruction is widespread already and the storm hasn't even hit full force yet. Some areas expected to get 300 mm of rain! Let me know if you want a rain check [REDACTED]

Here's problem #2. Looks like we might be choppering around the province tomorrow. State of emergency being declared in a few places already. Major damage and flooding. The place is a mess. How do you feel about Thursday? [REDACTED] We still don't know for sure, but I figured I'd plant the seed.

[REDACTED] PMO is moving target. Don't know when we will be back tomorrow. I honestly think we're rolling the dice trying to do this tomorrow. All very fluid. They could get out and decide not to come back until late afternoon. And the weekend is out for DW.